For a great overview of the Hillbilly/redneck stereotype read “Hillbilly” by Anthony Harkins. Harkins argues that although depictions of Appalachian populations date back to the 1700s, the hillbilly stereotype emerged in the aftermath of the Civil War. As capitalists, journalists, and government officials entered the region in the 1880s and 1890s, they encountered resistance from local communities. In response to this resistance they portrayed “hillbillies” as backwards and a threat to American society. Decades later, progressive reformers subtly changed the hillbilly stereotype to make Appalachian communities seem more sympathetic, but they still relied on the degradation of poor whites to push forward their efforts.

The term redneck also emerged in the same period. In the conflict over unionizing in the coalfields, miners wore red bandanas. In the national press these miners gained the nickname redneck. So the term redneck has at its core a sense of opposition to wider American society.

Since the 1920s, the hillbilly/redneck stereotype has become a core stereotype in American pop culture. “The Beverley Hillbillies” and “Deliverence” illustrate the two sides of the redneck stereotype, either childlike and naive idiots or threats to others. This stereotype has also spread beyond the Appalachian region to describe any poor white communities across the country.

With the rise of country and bluegrass as popular musical forms in the post-war years and the political focus on the “disgruntled” silent majority since the Nixon years, poor rural whites have been stereotyped as conservative and stupid. But these stereotypes have a longer history dating back to the late 1800s. Although the stereotypes have subtly changed over the decades, it has largely been used by middle-class and wealthy urban white populations to come to terms with the existence of poor white communities without having to confront broader social, political, and economic structures that create these communities.